Corporations, other organizations, and individuals are spending millions of dollars on powerful and compact portable computers to increase productivity. The user usually carries his or her computer during the workday to access pre-call records, set post-call follow-ups, and log information while it is still fresh in the user's mind.
Ninety per cent of the time, the user attempts these activities while parked in a vehicle, either before or immediately following an activity with a sales presentation being typical. It does not take long for the user to realize there is no convenient way to utilize a computer in a parked vehicle. There is no room for a computer on a dashboard; and the keyboard is virtually inaccessible if the computer is held on the user's lap, even on the passenger side of the vehicle. The resourceful user typically places the computer on the passenger seat, awkwardly rotates his or her upper body 90 degrees to the right, and attempts to log and retrieve data while in this most uncomfortable position. That increases stress and fatigue and may even decrease productivity. The result is that a typically unacceptable number of users leave the computer home, jotting down notes throughout the day and then entering them into their computers upon arriving home in the evening. The result is a duplication of effort, a waste of money, and under as well as ineffective utilization of an expensive high tech device that is supposed to increase productivity.
This problem of making a portable computer acceptably easy to use in a vehicular setting is addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,665 issued 5 Jan. 1993 to Frank et al. The patented solution to the problem is a multipart housing/support which has the disadvantage of employing moving parts. The patented device is also lacking in that its sheet material construction is apt to provide a wobbly support. Furthermore, the sheet material hooks employed in the patented device will assuredly not provide a secure connection between the device and a steering wheel. These relatively flimsy components could easily be broken, bent, or otherwise damaged in a manner which would result in an insecure connection between the computer supporting device and the vehicular steering wheel.
Thus, there is an existing and continuing need for a device that can be used to support a portable computer from a vehicular steering wheel in a manner which makes the computer easy to use by an occupant of the vehicle.